


Strangers on a Plane

by ladiekatie



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Airplane, Alive Hale Family, Business Man!Derek, M/M, airport, grad student!Stiles, i guess?, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 07:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14076381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladiekatie/pseuds/ladiekatie
Summary: The gate is full of people, which means that the flight is full. Not that Derek doesn't know that. When he was booking his flight, he was planning on sitting in his normal section, first class, but it was all sold out. So he was left with a window seat near the back of the plane.This whole trip is going to be hell.or the one where Derek accidentally falls onto his neighbor's lap on a plane.





	Strangers on a Plane

**Author's Note:**

> Another little thing I wrote out today since I had the day off. I got this idea from a GMA segment where they were talking about awkward plane situations, and one of the hosts said she fell into a sleeping man's lap and like.... Sterek. Obviously this is more fleshed out but I like it and I thought I was going to get something posted during spring break, but that didn't happen so here it is.

Traveling was the worst part about Derek’s job. Slowly but surely his family has been expanding their company, and he’s been given the position to head all the new divisions all over the country. Naturally, that means that he spends way to much time in airports. 

This trip was different, though. The office in Los Angeles’s manager quit by throwing a chair out of his office window and yelling profanities at everyone in the office. So now, Derek is on a last minute flight across the country to interview and hire a whole new team for the place, and to fix the building that as a result of Howard’s actions, was left in massive disarray. 

It’s going to be fun.

The gate is full of people, which means that the flight is full. Not that Derek doesn't know that. When he was booking his flight, he was planning on sitting in his normal section, first class, but it was all sold out. So he was left with a window seat near the back of the plane.

This whole trip is going to be hell.

“Good evening passengers, flight 457 to Los Angeles will begin boarding with any passengers with pre boarding,” the stewardess says into the little microphone. Derek stands up, pulling his satchel onto his shoulder before remembering that he was boarding group 5, out of 5. Slowly the gate empties as a line files into the jetway. 

The stewardess finally calls for his boarding group up to board. The line waddles slowly as they get their tickets scanned and their bodies onto the plane. The plane is tiny, a commuter. Only two seats per side. Slowly but surely, he makes his way to the back of the plane, checking his ticket again to make sure that he didn’t read it wrong and he magically got upgraded to the tinier first class section. 

His seat is empty, but there is already a guy sitting in the aisle seat. 

“That’s me,” he says, pointing to his seat. 

“Oh yeah, of course man,” the guy says as he stands up without unbuckling his seat belt. “Oh shit,” he says when he seems to realize his mistake. The incident annoys Derek, he really just wishes this flight was already over, but there are about 3 hours between him and Los Angeles. 

The guy gets his seat belt off as the flight attendant announces the flight is full and for everyone to make their way to their seats. The guy stumbles as he stands up in the aisle, allowing Derek to squeeze into the entirely too small seat. He shoves his bag under the seat in front of him, and uncrosses his seatbelt from the seat before plopping down. 

He brings his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose as the guy next to him manages to get back into his own seat. Derek suit suddenly feels entirely too tight and like he can’t breath. He wouldn’t even be wearing it if he didn’t have to rush to the office as soon as he landed.  

Instead of taking his jacket off like he really wants too, he crosses his arms over his chest and shuts his eyes, hoping the flight passes quickly.

Just like the rest of the shithole day, he wakes up before the plane lands when his bladder calls his attention. These early flights seem like a good idea, until you realize sleeping on planes is what hell is like. 

The guy next to him is asleep too, though his sleep looks so much more peaceful than his own. His arms are crossed over his chest, covering a dirty shirt with “USC” on the front. Derek looks closer at him, having not been in the mood to look at strangers as he boarded the plane. Now though, the guy is cute. He’s sleeping, and his mouth is hanging open a little. Moles dot his face, and there even looks like there is a little bit of dry drool on the corner of his mouth. 

Derek’s bladder calls again, with a new urgency that only comes with skipping the restroom before boarding the plane can. The business class seats are so small, his knees are almost touching the seat in front of him. There isn’t enough space to breathe let alone stand and crawl over his sleeping neighbor. 

But, his bladder is going to explode if he waits any longer. So, he’s got to do, what he’s got to do. He unbuckles his seatbelt and carefully stands up. The guy justles a little bit as Derek stands, crouched under the overhead bins. The guy has his legs spread a little bit, enough for Derek to get a foot in as his other one makes it to the aisle. Suddenly the plane jostles with a bit of turbulence, causing Derek to fall off balance. 

To his mortification, Derek falls onto the lap of the guy.

Without even skipping a beat, Derek manages to get to up and back on his feet, but the damages is done. His little stumble was enough to wake the guy up. 

“Whoa,” is all the guy says while Derek doesn’t really know what to do. With a hop he manages to get to the aisle. 

“Sorry,” is what he decides to go with, he knows his face must be red, because the tiny plane is suddenly a thousand degrees hotter. Derek can’t even stand to stay there enough for a response so he turns on his heels and makes the short walk to the bathroom at the back of the plane. 

The bathroom, like everything else on the plane, is tiny. Derek can’t help but wonder how planes can be so small while still being suitable for this kind of travel. Regardless, he pees, and it’s such a good pee that he can’t help but sigh at the relief he feels. For a moment he even forgets that he has to go back to his seat and face the guy who’s lap he just sat on. 

On his way back to his seat, he pulls off his jacket, and manages to check his phone to see that there is still about 2 hours left in the flight.

Back at his seat, the guy is away and messing around on his own phone. This plane has no wifi, so Derek has no idea what the guy could be doing. It looks like he’s reading something, a book or an article he loaded before he got on the plane. 

“Hey,” Derek says softly, just to get the guys attention so he can stand up and they can forgo the incredible awkward situation they were in earlier. The guy does stand up, and Derek scooches into his seat, getting his seat buckled as the other guy takes his own seat. 

They’re quiet, but Derek’s stomach is still twisting as he feels the tension between them. 

“You could just ask me to dinner first,” the guy says, still staring down at his phone. 

“Excuse me?” Derek asks, no looking away from the very interesting tray table clasp on the seat in front of him. 

“I’m just saying, if you want to sit on my dick you should at least ask me to dinner first,” the guy says again, this time looking up from his phone to look at Derek. 

Derek looks back and oh man. The guy has the most stellar brown eyes. Derek never thought much of brown eyes, but these eyes made his think that nothing could be as beautiful. 

“I’m sorry, I-” Derek tries, but the guys words just make his brain short circuit. The guy sighs and raises his hands to rub against his face. 

“No man, I’m sorry. That was mega inappropriate.”

There is a moment that Derek can’t really think of anything to say. Instead, he pulls his phone out to look at nothing. 

Over the past few years, Derek has been unable to explore anything outside of work. He’s been jetsetting all over the country, working in office after office, getting everything started so that someone else can take over. There is a condo with his name on the deed in New York, but he hasn’t slept there in nearly a year. He hasn’t had time to do his own grocery shopping let alone date. 

This guy was odd, and his approach was a little creepy, but at the same time, he was hot, and Derek hasn’t gotten laid in the longest time. 

“Shit. Look, I’m so sorry man, I’m not a creep. I’m sorry if I offended you. I’m Stiles,” the guy - Stiles- says looking at Derek. 

“Derek,” he says, putting his hand out. Stiles takes it, with one eyebrows quirked up on his forehead. “You go to USC?”

“Umm, yeah. Well, I did. Just graduated. Headed back from an interview at Columbia for my PhD program,” Stiles says after Derek releases his hand. 

“Columbia? Wow, what are you studying?” Derek asks, turning in his seat to get a better look at Stiles. 

“Music, hopefully,” Stiles answers. “What do you do? In your fancy suits?”

“I am the ‘Manager of Continental Expansion’ for my family’s company. Which makes me sound like some sort of colonizer. But music sounds so much more interesting,” Derek says. 

Just like that, the flight gets so much more enjoyable. They sit and talk. About everything. It’s amazing. Derek doesn’t feel like he’s had a genuine conversation like this in years, not even with his own family. 

Derek hardly knows this stranger on the plane, but he’s telling him about his lingering resentment that his family won’t let him invest in his own endeavours, and how he really wants to go back to school himself, but can’t find the time because he has so much work to do. Even Stiles seems like he’s sharing a lot of information that doesn’t seem like stuff you would share on a plane with a stranger who sat in your lap. 

Stiles tells Derek how he really wants to move to New York because he felt so obligated to stay in California for undergrad for his father. He mentions how he learned piano from his mom on a shitty piano at the community center. How after she died, it was all he did for two years. 

The whole conversation lead them to some strange places, but when the flight attendant came over the speaker to announce they were making their final descent into LAX Derek can’t help but feel a little sad that their chance meeting was going to end. 

The plane lands, and as the plane is taxiing, Stiles looks at his phone and sends a text to his father letting him know he has landed. It must be nice, to have someone to pick you up from the airport like that. Derek’s rental car is waiting for him, a sleek black camaro like the one he has sitting in a garage in New York. 

On an impulse Derek turns to Stiles and says “Yes.”

Stiles pauses and looks up to Derek with a questioning look on his face. “Yes?” he asks, looking for the question to go with the answer that was prompted from nowhere. 

“I'll take you to dinner first,” Derek says, “before I sit on your dick.”

 

Stiles doesn’t get accepted to Columbia, but he does get accepted to NYU. With Stiles in New York for the foreseeable future Derek finally starts sleeping in his condo everynight and even pulls his car out of the garage most days. What can he say? His boyfriend likes it when he’s home. Stiles even likes to help out at the tiny bookshop Derek opens up down at street level of his building.

Maybe that flight wasn’t as bad as Derek thought.

**Author's Note:**

> What did ya think? Leave a kudos and a comment to let me know!
> 
> Come hang out with me on [tumblr!!](http://ladiekatie.tumblr.com/)
> 
> **This is a complete work. I do not intend to add anything past this point.**


End file.
